- Dec 3, 2012
- 84
- 83
Idaho native here, and am looking to learn about dry cured stuff. Been producing smokies and fresh sausages for years, and want to make a landjaeger out of wild game.
I have a microbiology degree so am quite versed in fermenting and have had 10 plus years of involvement in producing commercially sold cultured dairy products. Therefore, I am extremely aware of what is required for good manufacturing process for food safety. I also know safety is only a component of something worthy of eating.
I've made some poor summer sausage using buttermilk and the reason it was poor was the oven temperature instead of the recipe. Tasted like summer meat loaf instead of sausage. Also made a traditional venison prosciutto that was good, but I didn't like as much as I like smokies.
That's my experience in a nutshell and am looking for advice on quality dry cured sausage making. I have two start up questions that once I get past then I can think about recipes. 1st, if you add cure to the recipe and add culture why doesn't the cure inhibit the culture? Meaning why not let the meat ferment for 2 - 3 days in bulk and then add the cure and stuff?
The 2nd question is about everything being cold when processing? I like the idea of cold for inhibiting bacterial growth, but on this site I see where I should be dunking grinder parts in ice baths and cutting my traditional "as big a piece of meat as I can get into the grinder neck" into smaller chunks. I'm guessing that cold has another importance than just a bacterial inhibitor?
Finally, I don't have a curing chamber or humidity controlled contraption yet. That's my new years resolution. I am blessed with a 56 degree 65% rh root cellar that works great for wine and cheese, and where I built a tent and aged the prosciutto and summer sausage,
I have a retired incubation chamber that I use for smoking in and it holds about 100 lbs of smokies.
I have a microbiology degree so am quite versed in fermenting and have had 10 plus years of involvement in producing commercially sold cultured dairy products. Therefore, I am extremely aware of what is required for good manufacturing process for food safety. I also know safety is only a component of something worthy of eating.
I've made some poor summer sausage using buttermilk and the reason it was poor was the oven temperature instead of the recipe. Tasted like summer meat loaf instead of sausage. Also made a traditional venison prosciutto that was good, but I didn't like as much as I like smokies.
That's my experience in a nutshell and am looking for advice on quality dry cured sausage making. I have two start up questions that once I get past then I can think about recipes. 1st, if you add cure to the recipe and add culture why doesn't the cure inhibit the culture? Meaning why not let the meat ferment for 2 - 3 days in bulk and then add the cure and stuff?
The 2nd question is about everything being cold when processing? I like the idea of cold for inhibiting bacterial growth, but on this site I see where I should be dunking grinder parts in ice baths and cutting my traditional "as big a piece of meat as I can get into the grinder neck" into smaller chunks. I'm guessing that cold has another importance than just a bacterial inhibitor?
Finally, I don't have a curing chamber or humidity controlled contraption yet. That's my new years resolution. I am blessed with a 56 degree 65% rh root cellar that works great for wine and cheese, and where I built a tent and aged the prosciutto and summer sausage,
I have a retired incubation chamber that I use for smoking in and it holds about 100 lbs of smokies.
